This booklet offers a guide to a patient’s pathway following a diagnosis of oesophageal or gastric cancer. Treatment is by now well standardised across the UK, so it should largely reflect what is offered in any hospital. It explains the difference between the treatment options of curative or non-curative (also called ‘palliative’) pathways, according to the preparatory investigations of the nature abd extent of each cancer. It also introduces the full range of specialists who will be involved in preparing the patient for, and accompanying them through, the surgical operations to deal with the oesophageal or gastric cancer itself. It then sets out some of the longer-term consequences that the patient may encounter as they recover after the treatment has been concluded. More detailed information can be found in our booklets ‘What is Oesophageal Cancer?’, ‘What is Gastric (stomach) Cancer?’, and particularly in ‘Life after Oesophageal & Gastric Surgery’.
